17 January 2009 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Allahumma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad hatta yarda Sayyidina Muhammad.
A’oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem.
Nawaytu ‘l-arba ‘een, nawyatu ‘l-’itikaar, nawaytu ‘l-khalwah, nawaytu ‘l-uzlah,
nawaytu ‘r-riyaadah, nawaytu ‘s-sulook, lillahi ta ‘ala fee haadha ‘l-masjid.
Ati`ullaha wa ati`u ‘r-Rasoola wa ooli ‘l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
Madad Yaa Sayyidee...Yaa `afuww `afuww `anna.
A’oodhu billah nabtadi bi bismilllahi ‘r-Rahmani ‘r-Raheem.
We begin with Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem. “Alif”, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, represents the first letter of “Allah”. It represents Uloohiyyah, Lordship of the Divine Creator, so it represents anything related to Allah (swt). And Allah (swt) created Creation by ordering the Pen to write, Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmani ‘r-Raheem. When the Pen began to write Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem, Creation appeared; the Creation we know about, and the Creation we don’t know about. And there are Creations that are never-ending; just as Allah’s greatness is never-ending, His Creation is never-ending. Like in math or chemistry, these (sciences) have equations that are never-ending. Creation never ends, as Allah’s Greatness never ends. For other beliefs, Creation ends for human beings, but for Muslims and for those who understand and realize the importance of ma`rifatullah, knowledge about Allah, they know Creation never ends.
One time Jibreel (a) asked, “Yaa Rabbee, show me Your Creation, Your Greatness.” Jibreel (a) is in every religion, and even in different beliefs. When people believe in God or gods, they know there is a Holy Spirit, Jibreel, the messenger from God to humanity. Allah (swt) ordered him, “Yaa Jibreel, go with full speed that I gave to you.”
When Jibreel comes to all prophets from Adam (a) to Sayyidina Muhammad (s), he descends with two wings and in one moment he is present. And imagine this whole universe that scientists say is billions and billions of light years distance! Jibreel (a) doesn’t take one second (to travel it), no time for him. And as when you die, in one second your soul reaches its place; inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon, “From Allah we come and to Allah is our return.”
In every major religion it is the same: the soul goes back to the origin in one moment. As soon as the soul comes out of mouth it is there! What kind of speed is that? Measured by (the physics principle of) 10-to-minus-22, time disappears and only energy can be measured. It is in the pot, not in the pot, it is in between. You cannot say it takes time to reach or it doesn’t take time for the soul to reach anywhere as it is between. Imagine if you are a saint and can take your soul out of your body, how many miracles you can do. Prophets are able to do all kinds of indescribable miracles.
To continue, as mentioned by Grandshaykh (q) Allah (swt) said, “Yaa Jibreel, open all 600 wings I gave you and go with speed and I will show you My Creation.” And Sayyidina Jibreel went 70,000 light years, we can say of heavenly years, and he got tired and stopped. He said, “Yaa Rabbee, I am surprised! I am not seeing except a huge plain full of tiny, small white particles that cannot be seen!” And Jibreel can see anything (his vision is acute). White always indicates purity. “And in the middle there is a tree, and I saw a bird on the top of that tree, and every moment that bird goes down, picks up one particle and then goes to the top of tree and swallows it. Then it goes down, picks up a particle, goes up to the top of the tree and swallows it. I went 70,000 years and that bird is continuously doing that. That is a green bird.”
Allah (swt) said, “Yaa Jibreel, even if you travel from the day I created you until the day I take your soul, the vastness of that plain will never end.”
And Jibreel (s) asked, “Who is that bird?”
Allah (swt) answered, “That is the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) from when I created him, before there was no Creation.”
As in the famous hadeeth of Jaabir (r), when Allah (swt) said, “I created everything from the light of Prophet (s).”
Creation appeared by one letter (of the Arabic alphabet), and that letter is “ba”. The letter “ba” is also the symbol of Prophet’s secrets. Awliyaullah take from Prophet (s) from the letter “ba”. That is why when you recite Holy Qur’an you begin with bismillah, which begins with “ba”. The Prophet (s) said:
كل أمر ذي بال لم يبدأ فيه باسم الله فهو أبتر
kullu amrin dhi baalin lam yabda'a feehi bismillah fa-huwa abtar.
Any action not done which does not begin with bismillah is cut off.
And that bird with the secret of bismillah, taking one white, pure crystal, is not allowed to swallow it until it reaches the top of tree, where he sits and swallows it.
Allah (swt) answered, “Yaa Jibreel, every crystal represents a complete Creation that I am creating without making the crystal bigger and without making the Creation smaller.” Imagine Allah’s Greatness! “Each crystal has a beginning and an end that I, on the Day of Judgment and with My Mercy, send wherever I like, to Paradise or to some place else, as I like.”
And that bird is not stopping in that duty until Allah (swt) knows when. Why does he swallow it? For you to know that you are in Rasoolullah (s): when he swallows that crystal, you are in his heart! And he never gets bigger in eating these particles but instead remains in the same shape. That means Prophet (s) is carrying this whole Creation that Allah created by Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem. W`alamoo anna feekum Rasoolullah. So “ba” is the beginning of Creation and that is the Creation of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!
So brothers and sisters, we are waiting Mawlana Shaykh’s suhbah which might begin in a few minutes.
Yesterday we explained the five hadarat (levels or plains of being) up to Hadarat al-Laahoot. You cannot get to these realities when you are immersed so deeply in dunya. Now for me, when I see you here I think, “These people are not involved in dunya, or why to come here?” And I am involved in dunya, but what we can do? With Allah’s Support and Greatness, and with support of our shaykh we are here together. Allah (swt) said, “When people sit together and remember Allah they will be surrounded by angels and blessed.”
For example, one of the richest people in dunya was Alexander the Great, Iskandar al-Kabeer. People ask from where Native Americans came? How they came, through Alaska (by land), or by boat? Allah said in Holy Qur’an:
وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَن ذِي الْقَرْنَيْنِ قُلْ سَأَتْلُو عَلَيْكُم مِّنْهُ ذِكْرًا إِنَّا مَكَّنَّا لَهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَآتَيْنَاهُ مِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ سَبَبًا فَأَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا
wa yas'aloonaka `an Dhi 'l-Qarnayni qul sa-atloo `alaykum minhu dhikraa innaa makkannaa lahu fee al-'ardi wa aataynaahu min kulli shayin sababaa fa'atba`a sababaa.
They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain. Say, "I will rehearse to you something of his story. Verily We established him (made him very powerful) in the Earth, and We gave him the means of everything, so he followed a way. (al-Kahf, 18:83-85)
It means, “We didn’t give anyone power like We gave him dunya power, and we gave him power and facilities that he can move mountains, and We gave him from everything, min kulli shayin sababaa, it means Allah (swt) didn’t give him anything unless He gave him some power over it, and he followed those ways.
So they say Alexander is the one who sent the Native Americans to Mexico and North America; first they were in the East, reaching all the way to Australia. His kingdom was huge. He conquered the whole Earth! What happened before he died? He called his cabinet and told them, “I am dying. When I die, put me in a simple box.” Not like today coffins that cost twenty-thousand dollars. And do you know there are graves that cost five-million dollars, or one-million dollars, in Beverly Hills? He said, “Put me in normal coffin with my hands out, and take me to my grave.” He was a pious one. Allah mentioned him in Holy Qur’an, he was not a bad one.
So when he died, his ministers were confused about why they have to put his hands out of the coffin? Out of respect they wanted to keep his hands inside the coffin, but they had to obey his order, so they put his hands out. On the way to the grave taking him, people were asking why his hands are out? And one big voice came, like what Allah mentioned in Holy Qur’an about the `Aad and Thamud people, a sayhata came and took them and they all died. Their villages are still there in Turkey; you can see them empty, their houses in rocks. And when that voice came, Allah (swt) ordered one angel to shout, and not homes were gone, but only people died.
Allah (swt) created technology. Today you have a neutron bomb that can eliminate any living being, and everything built will remain. When Abraahaa came to destroy Baytullah (Ka`aba), Allah sent Abaabeel, birds with three rocks in their beaks that were like intelligent “smart” bombs. Those rocks only killed whose name was written on it, and the Ka`aba remained safe.
(Back to the story.) And people were surprised when that voice came. “I am the Great Iskander, Dhul Qarnayn. I conquered the world! No one is richer than me, and I went from dunya empty-handed!”
You are not going to take any pleasure from dunya, any wealth you leave it and go, pleasure you leave it and go. Don’t say, “I want to live my life.” Don’t say, “I am wasting my life.” If you are in Allah’s Way you are not wasting your life, but if you are in Shaytan’s way you are wasting your life! This life can end in one second. But akhira is not ending; it is forever, that cycle is forever. We run today and our running is only for this life. But not you; you are running for akhira and this is an example, you run to see Mawlana Shaykh and you go to dhikr. Although you might make mistakes, no one is perfect, but if you do something wrong, repent.
So why Allah gave to awliyaullah? Because they are repenting, as if every moment they are doing something wrong, but they are spending their lives for the benefit of people, they are not benefitting themselves. Anyone who helps them, helps himself; who came to their association is helping himself. They are not in need of your help—you are in need! Grandshaykh (q), even if a young child sat with him, he open a subhah! One hour, two hours he spoke, no problem; he is a fountain (of knowledge) speaking continuously, non-stop.
In 1967, Grandshaykh (q) had a heart attack and was sick, and alhamdulillah he recovered. I remember he was in his daughter’s house in Damascus in a very small room, and had just returned from Madinatu ‘l-Munawwara after seclusion of one year, in which he was eating one piece of bread daily. If I explain to you how many types of seclusion there are, you will be amazed; how awliyaa spend their lives in seclusion. There are seclusions in which they don’t eat and drink and they live. You have to train yourself for that. (In those seclusions) they received spiritual nourishment and didn’t need physical sustenance. They train themselves to think about nothing but Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s). When you train your mind like that, that you don’t need any food. And he came from that Madinah seclusion and was eating only one bowl of soup and a piece of bread, and he had heart attack. He was in that room resting, and when a visitor came, I am surprised he opened a suhbah! When awliyaullah open a suhbah they open realities that no one expects.
But most important is to drop love of dunya from your eyes. This is a summary of what were saying just now. The hadith of Prophet (s):
“Whoever is able to control for me what is between his jaws and what is between his legs I will guarantee for him paradise.” What does that mean? It means don’t open your mouth; when you open your mouth either through food or through backbiting, you fall into mistakes because you don’t control your tongue. One of these sins is speaking about someone, or you are in a gathering and someone will say, “You are too religious; enjoy life a little bit more.” Is it not happening? How much your parents try to push you to drink alcohol or whatever. Asking, “What is that praying and praising? You are a terrorist!” Now anyone who wants to go to a mosque or church or synagogue they can say is a terrorist. They say, “Here, this is a cigarette,” and Allah knows what they put inside it!
One day, two days, three days you fall into (the wrong things they encourage you to do). And then one will say, “You have problem in your mind. To save yourself from problems, drink a little bit, it will be okay.” You take one sip, two sips, three sips… one cup, two cups, three cups, and you become drunk from one mistake! Is it not? That is why they tell you, the first look is for you, the second is not for you, it will be written as sin. First look is nadhra, then ibtisaam, smile, you look, you smile; famawi`d, a date, then after you look and smile, then a date. So finished! No, you have to stop from the beginning or else you will go all the way and you don’t know where it will end. You may destroy yourself or your neighbor. That is how they cheat, these terrorists, they pull (recruits) with one word. Also in religion they cheat you, with one word, then they control you.
So awliyaullah know that who controls what is between the legs and between the jaws, first it begins with speaking, the jaws. You look, smile, talk, make a date and then the date good or not good. So when you behave like awliyaaullah, you cannot cross the limits; that is where Shaytan is waiting for you to cross the limit and then catch you. That is why Islam came with limits. That is why Prophet (s) said, ummatan wasatan, “We are a moderate nation,” meaning, we accept everything (permitted).
Grandshaykh (q) said, “Sayyidina Shah Naqshband (q) used to say, ‘Our doors are open from east to west, vast for people to enter, and as soon as they enter there is no exit out, they are stuck with us, no way to think they can go out.’”
That is good for us, because even if you went wild, they will bring you on Judgment Day in front of Allah (swt) and in front of Prophet (s), and that is a power Allah gave awliyaullah to save their followers, not to let Shaytan win over them. And that saint will not accept that guidance-power except if he is given the power to save his followers. Even if they go wild, to know what a miserable life they will live if they go astray, but in reality the saints are holding them. And they will enter akhira under shafa`a (intercession) of Prophet (s).
O brothers and sisters, we must be very happy that Allah (swt) guided us with a very highly guided saint, and we must appreciate that. If you accompany… the problem is that you are only hearing. They are not seeing, some people, if they see and follow, they will be amazed.
You have people coming from royal families coming to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim: the brother of a king, the sister of a king, son of a king, kings of Muslim and non-Muslim countries. It is so amazing, I am seeing members of royal families, president’s sons and daughters, highly rich people, normal people, and you see them sitting on the same table. They are all happy and they don’t say there is protocol. Here they accept the protocol that Allah (swt) made everyone equal. You don’t see someone say, “This one is bad.”
I was sitting at Mawlana’s table one time a few years ago and someone brought two ladies dressed very well. I suspected there is a scam there, but they introduced them to Mawlana Shaykh. That person loves the shaykh and he works in different ways, good and bad ways. I think he was bringing them along (in the Sufi Way) and I cannot say they were not clean ones, but they had unacceptable behavior. And they were eating and Mawlana was eating, and the ladies are sitting outside and eating. And that man came in, and Mawlana didn’t say that is a bad person, but we knew. They ate and Mawlana spoke with these two girls and then after that we prayed. The questions he asked them and what he spoke softened their hearts. Then after prayer they said, “O our shaykh, we want to take shahadah.” They were not Muslim and they were working in bars and discos. And that boy who brought them was impressed and he took shahadah also. So we cannot judge people who come as Allah (swt) might guide them. We say, “O Allah! Keep us with your saints that keep us with our Prophet (s).” We might go to Hadrat al-Laahoot!
So the Heavenly Kingdom, `Alam al-Malakoot, it is different levels of the manifestation of the lights of the Beautiful Names and Attributes. So when awliyaa are able to leave this life to heavenly life, they go into the meaning of every holy Name. And every Name, for example “ar-Razzaq, the Provider,” that is a description of Allah (swt), is it not? But we cannot say that Name is Allah; that is a description for the Holy Essence which is the Absolute Unknown. But every moment that Essence is giving a different description of the name “ar-Razzaq”! And it is not one description! And in every person there is a manifestation of that name, ar-Razzaq, different in every person: for him different, for her different, for anyone living in Earth or in Paradise, there is a different meaning to each person.
So when a wali enters that, he must go into each different secret of that Name, ascending in levels until he reaches a place where he will understand that if he spends all his dunya and akhira power, he cannot understand even one Name and the manifestation of all Names is Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! So imagine how far a wali has to go. There are infinite Names and Attributes and there are an infinite number of secrets of each Name that a wali has to know when he leaves this dunya!
May Allah forgive us and bless us.
wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi-hurmati 'l-Fatihah.